Reading Anniversaries: First in a Series & Singles–November Edition

Kaijus? In a book? Sign me up! Read my review here.

Okay, since I read this book before I started this blog, here goes:

Plants on the disc, while including the categories known commonly as annuals, which were sown this year to come up later this year, biennials, sown this year to grow next year, and perennials, sown this year to grow until further notice, also included a few re-annuals which, because of an unusual four-dimensional twist in their genes, could be planted this year to come up last.

Several times Rincewind noticed hydrophobes — their ingrained expressions of self-revulsion at their own bodily fluids — were distinctive

Twoflower had spat. The hydrophobe screamed and dropped his hand as though it had been stung.

Death sat in His garden, running a whetstone along the edge of His scythe. It was already so sharp that any passing breeze that blew across it was sliced smoothly into puzzled zephyrs.

Another classic that, like Frankenstein, changed the literary world forever!

Another pre-blog review:

The Panamanian Golden Frogs are the focus of the chapter. However, the chapter is about the extinction of a large number of amphibians. Just made me sad as reading about extinctions always does.

Fascinating story about an anatomist drawing conclusions and connections from fossilized remains that others fail to do so! After all,

“…who would have the temerity to peer down an elephant’s throat?”

I have issues with the author telling us about things that have been “proven” wrong or right. There are no “proofs” in science!

The chapter is about how Charles Lyell, a geologist, was bent on proving that nature took a “uniformitarian” way. Reminded me of Harry Turtledove’s alternate history version, Audubon in Atlantis, from Atlantis and Other Places: Stories of Alternate History and the movie, Up. The chapter also mentions Charles’s tortoises had become extinct but there was no mention of the hybrids that were found with the extinct DNA mixed in as well. Found that weird. The discovery took place before this book was published.

This chapter is about the establishment of the (meteor) Impact theory in science.
Some of my favorite quotes were from this chapter:

Basically, if you were a triceratops in Alberta, you had about two minutes before you got vaporized.

The uncoiled shells of species like Eubaculites carinatus indicated that the group had exhausted its practical possibilities and entered some sort of decadent, Lady Gaga-ish phase

Among other things, this chapter deals with the theories behind minor (mass) extinctions, rats inheriting the world, and naming this age Anthropocene. The inclusion of naked mole rats made it one of my favorite chapters.

The chapter starts a discussion on the acidification of the oceans. Made me feel like if the global warming didn’t get us, acidification definitely will!

The coral reefs are dying off at an alarming speed. An inscription on a patch that is being researched upon, DK-13, says it all,

DK-13: NO ONE CAN HEAR YOU SCREAM. The research station on One Tree Island has been home to many research teams. They all leave their mark on its walls:
THE CRAB CREW: CLAWS FOR A CAUSE – 2005

Dr. Silman and his team have been researching the effect of elevation (and indirectly climate) on the vegetation. The quote that stuck with me:

The sun was out, but it had recently rained, and clusters of black and red and blue butterflies hovered over the puddles. Occasionally, a truck rumbled by, loaded down with logs. The butterflies couldn’t scatter fast enough, so the road was littered with severed wings.

Formed in a Brazilian province, Reserve 1202 is a study of land fragmentation that has become a landmark of our anthropocentric world. It amazed me how scientists come and leave the Reserve and research goes on even today.

Bat die-off has struck. It begins with a white spot on their little noses that is actually a fungus called Geomyces destructans. It was not a natural part of the area of the world that it struck upon. This was the quote that stayed with me:

During any twenty-four-period, it is estimated that ten thousand different species are being moved around the world just in ballast water.

One of the handful Sumatran rhinos left is given an ultrasound after a failed attempt at artificial insemination.

The megafauna strategy used to be a winning one: grow to mammoth sizes (literally in some cases) to escape predation but trade off by reproducing once in a lifetime. Then humans came and the rules changed!

The Neanderthals were doing fine until they came into contact with modern humans.

The exceedingly rare Hawaiian crow features in this chapter. This one is called Kinohi and it has a tragicomic sex life.

I liked the way the author chose to end this book. Humans are agents of change and she chose to focus on that rather than making us out as the bad guys who only make species go extinct. We exist, therefore, we bring change. 

My latest review will clue you in as to how I feel about this series and why I keep reading it!

I really liked this book for various reasons:

it took the story of heavenly strife and turned it on its head

the supporting characters were each shown a lot of love

it was a chunkster but like Alana said, it was worth it!

the author does great one liners and I’m already a fan of her sense of humor after reading Wastes of Space.

Helion was the cutest-he was like a lost puppy..a kid discovering simple delights like food and shopping.

Reading about Lucifer behaving like a guy smitten with love was interesting and the way he switched back to his old archaic self when hurting was awesome!

BUT:

be warned that there’s a lot of silliness-Belial, Andy and Paimon behave like teenagers..a lot! If you don’t want to read about ancient demons acting that way, you might not wanna read this.

not much actually “happens” in the book till the ending.

the way Furcas and Paimon reverted back to being Faith and Patience and just “magically” solved all of Dahlia’s problems was a bit annoying.

Already looking forward to the next one!

This is a scary ass book! I am going to read the next part in the series and then review it here soon!

A favorite. I loved the book and I loved the movie!

A very cute book that had me laughing a lot. If you like rogue fairies who fall in love with felines, then you need to read this!

Ask me what made me love this book and I won’t be able to tell you. But that’s alright. It is the same way with Clifford Simak’s Grass. They are both written in a simple manner and yet they have engaging plots that kept me hooked.

One of my weirder reads but not any less for it:

I got this book, from Making Connections for free, in exchange for an honest review. Get your copy here.  I liked this book for several reasons:

the premise it is based on was interesting!

the humor was done well — it made me laugh out loud in several places.

though written in a way that didn’t make the reader agonize over what was happening to the seven guys, it doesn’t belittle the reason/discrimination for what they’re facing.

Newman felt like a real person-it took him a long time to accept he was part of the group.

it doesn’t divide the world into good and bad guys based on their nationality.

the story is just the right length and I like the cover.

What I didn’t like:

none of the seven got that they were being played- they should have caught it sooner and I found it hard to believe that they didn’t!

Another weird one for the list!

This book affected me more than it normally would have. Maybe I was in the right frame of mind to read it. Or, it was something else. Either way, I now count it amongst books that made me cry — in a good way!

Before there was Jorg, there was Kylar. While the last book isn’t as strong, this first installment is a good one. If you like epic fantasy and wetwork, then you’d probably love this!

Charley Davidson is the Grim. She is in love with the Devil’s son who is broody and violent but mostly reciprocates. She also has the weirdest sense of humor. Add to that, a staunch belief that every life but her own is worthless, and you will have a handle on what the book is about.

Magical realism and good writing made this one a win for me.

An urban fantasy series from the heyday of UF books. All I can say is that I knew I was into this series right from the first book.

Jo is a Weather Warden. Who loves a Djinn. She is also a punching bag for all the baddies out there. She has a horrible sense of fashion. But I like Jo. I also like that the author ended the series when she should have!

Another book that made me cry…a lot. It had its problems but it was still unique enough for me to remember it after all this time!

I loved this one right from the start! Enough to go read the second one, as well.

Here is what I thought of it a long time ago:

Liked this more than the first one. Or maybe I’m just getting used to the author’s style of writing. I would also have included the effects of salinity on the list which lead Earth towards its downfall. Its one of the factors that are not being given enough importance. The story was the right length and the concept that it was based on, intriguing. Had fun, will read the others too.

A bit late but at least, I got around to it! 

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